Angry Teachers Abandoning Boston's City on a Hill Charter

Educators working in Massachusetts' first accredited charter school
are so furious with the implementation of a new governance system that
nearly 60 percent of the faculty members plan to quit at the end of the
school year. They say they're convinced that the school's philosophy of
teacher-driven decisionmaking has been corrupted by bureaucrats.

The imminent exodus from the 220-student City on a Hill Charter
School in Boston follows the board of trustees' decision to hire
several administrators to manage school business, said Ann Connolly
Tolkoff, one of two teachers who started the school and a current board
member. The school has grown in size and scope since it opened its
doors seven years ago, and now needs full-time managers, she said.

But many of the 26 teachers employed at the school contend that the
new administrators have destroyed the stability of the school and
ultimately set back student achievement.

"City on a Hill used to be a place where students came to get a good
education," said science teacher Glenn J. Liebeck, who is planning to
leave the school at the end of the academic year. "The expectations
were extremely high. Now, all that has changed."

Such reactions have surprised Steven C. Leonard, who serves in the
newly created position of school president. He maintains that he came
to the school last summer and found a system in chaos. Since then, he
said, he has put in place positive changes.

"When I arrived here at City on a Hill, 'teacher driven' meant that
teachers could do what they as individuals felt was in the best
interest of their students," Mr. Leonard said. Teachers did not look at
student data when developing their lessons, failed to communicate with
one another about those plans, and were not held accountable for
student outcomes, he said.

Growing Pains

City on a Hill initially attracted the attention of the national
news media in 1995, when it was touted as Massachusetts' first school
founded, designed, and managed by teachers. Educators were considered
the experts in education and played many roles, including curriculum
coordinator, guidance counselor, and disciplinarian, Ms. Tolkoff
said.

Today, the curriculum still includes a diet of college-preparatory
classes, an emphasis on citizenship, and weekly "town meetings," in
which students debate such varied issues as school discipline and
immigration. ("Curtain Goes
Up on the Life of New School," Sept. 20, 1995.)

Students are chosen by lottery and come from neighborhoods
throughout Boston. Nearly half live in poverty.

The school had to make changes, however, as it grew from a building
of 65 students to more than 200 over the past few years, Ms. Tolkoff
said. Teachers had numerous responsibilities and little time in which
to accomplish their goals. And with plans to expand enrollment,
increase fund-raising efforts, and embellish the current
teacher-preparation program run by the school, she said, a team of
administrators had to be hired to get the work done.

Mr. Leonard said many students who enrolled quit before graduating,
state standards were ignored, and the principal was overwhelmed with
responsibilities.

To improve the system, the one-time U.S. Marine insisted teachers
work together in grade- level teams. He redistributed educators'
workloads and assigned many nonteaching jobs to other administrators. A
partnership with Northeastern University was also set up to run the
school's teacher-preparation program.

Teachers, though, said they felt their roles had been debased.

"It feels like a template has been superimposed on the existing
structure," said Al Calderone, a science teacher. "It is top down all
the way. In order to understand where they're coming from, I've got to
read the newspaper."

His contract was not renewed for the upcoming school year.

Mr. Leonard dismissed such comments and pointed to gains made by
students this year as evidence the new system is working.

For the first time in school history, for example, every single
member of the graduating class applied to college and has been
accepted, said Principal Paul S. Hays. Moreover, he added, many of the
40-some students are receiving scholarships.

Mr. Calderone, however, said Mr. Leonard is taking credit for work
done by educators in the years that predated his arrival.

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